More about determining your personality type

9 marca 2012

There are many ways of testing yourself and determining your personality type (we gave you an example in our previous lesson). One of them is MBTI or Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

MBTI tests are not about right or wrong answers.
It’s a psychometric tool that helps to understand individual’s preferences regarding absorbing and analysing information, taking decisions, cooperating with people and drivers motivating to pursue the challenge. The tool is based on Jung typology and it is an accurate and valuable tool supporting planning employee’s development and training needs, and having said that, driving organisations to increase their performance. It can also be used as a self-awareness tool, giving information necessary to set one’s career goals.

The instrument indentifies 16 different personality types, that can be determined by the following four sets of questions:

1. Attitude – Are you more focused on the world surrounding you or on your own inside world? Do you prefer to be concentrated on action or thought behind it? This question determines if you are Extravert or Introvert.
2. Gathering information – Are you more focused on given information or interpreting it and adding meaning? Do you consider information as a fact or treat it as an abstract for further investigation? This question determines if you depend on Sensing or Intuition.
3. Decision-making – What is more important for you – logic or special circumstances and other people involved in the situation? Do you prefer to take objective stand or rather look for a consensus? Thinking or Feeling
4. Dealing with the outside world – Do you stick to once made decision or do you prefer to stay open to new information and options? Judging or Perceiving.

Ways the employee gathers or processes information or is open to communicate or negotiate have great impact on business environment both inside and outside the organisation. Proper usage of the MBTI test can help avoid conflicts and misunderstandings and furthermore cause better individual and team performance.

Determining employees preferences can help HR to plan individual career paths as well as support managers in effective utilisation of team’s talents and skills and improve communication between team members.

MBTI tests are the most popular psychometric tool in the world. Over the years the instrument was proven to be reliable and undisputed help on the way to organisational success.

Glossary:
psychometric – psychometryczny
to regard – odnosić się
to absorb – chłonąć (wiedzę)
to take (a) decision(s) – podejmować decyzję/e
driver – czynnik motywujący
to pursue – dążyć do
challenge – wyzwanie
accurate – trafny
self-awareness – samoświadomość
set one’s career goals – wyznaczyć swoje cele zawodowe
attitude – nastawienie
thought behind it – myśl idąca za (tym działaniem)
to gather – zbierać
further – dalszy
circumstance – okoliczność
involved – zaangażowany
stand – stanowisko, punkt widzenia
to deal with – radzić sobie
to stick – pozostać przy (swoim zdaniu)
to process – przetwarzać
furthermore – co więcej
utilisation – wykorzystanie
was proven – udowodniono
undisputed – niekwestionowany

Watch the film and match the preferences with the descriptions:

In the next lesson we’re going to describe a few example personality types according to the MBTI and tell you how to deal with employees who are representatives of the given type. In the meantime, you can check which type you are www.humanmetrics.com

For more English for HR go to www.s-teem.pl

Key:

1-e); 2-g); 3-a); 4-f); 5-b); 6-c); 7-d); 8-h)